Effectiveness of Compensation Recovery Strategies in Enhancing Customer Experience in Star-Rated Hotels in Mombasa County, Kenya
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Date
2023-12
Authors
Keya, Judith
Pepela, Anthony
Kivuva, Alex
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
MJTUM
Abstract
Since today’s customers not only purchase goods and services for their utilitarian but also
hedonistic benefits, service recovery has become an integral part of any hotel that wishes
to remain competitive. In a bid to remain competitive, most hotels have developed service
systems. However, none of the systems in place are perfect. Though compensation has been
proposed as a means of securing competitive advantage, scant evidence exist suggesting that
the same can be used as recovery strategies to enhance customer experience. While using star
rated hotels in Mombasa, Kenya, this study sought to adduce the effectiveness of compensation
recovery strategies in enhancing customer experience using descriptive research design. Staff
from10 front-line sections within the 17 rated hotels in Mombasa County formed the sampling
frame. Data were collected by the use of an on-line questionnaire due to COVID-19 pandemic
that prevailed during the study period. A pre-test of the questionnaire was done on one of the
hotels, and the results were subjected to the Cronbach formula producing a reliability index of
0.989. Data were analysed by the use of inferential and descriptive statistics and the findings
presented in tables, bar graphs and pie charts. From the findings, descriptive analysis on
customer experience indicated that front line managers agreed and strongly agreed that when
customers are pleased with their recovery effort, they receive referrals from them, they spend
more money in the establishment, they show eagerness to return on, they become more loyal,
they share with others about the good services, and they trust that any offer given to them in
the future will go right. Descriptive analysis on the dimensions of the three strategies
(compensation, staff actions, and communication strategies) produced high means and low
standard deviations, indicating that front-line managers often and always applied the three
recovery strategies whenever a failure occurred. The regression analysis of the three
hypotheses indicated that the three strategies have a statistically significant influence on the
customer experience if used effectively. Other than advancing scholarly work in the field of
service recovery, the findings inform Kenya’s Ministry of Tourism and hotel stakeholders as a
whole by guiding in policy review and formulation so as to help in minimizing service failures.
Key Words: Effectiveness, Compensation, Recovery strategies, Service recovery Paradox
model, Customer experience, Rated hotels
Introduction
Though hotel operators continuously work
hard to achieve competitive advantages
over their rivals, it is extremely hard to
offer customers a reliable, first-time, errorfree service. This is because of the nature of
services (Ali et al., 2021) and the high
degree of personal interaction between
customers and employees (Ali et al., 2021),
thus the need of service recovery. Service
recovery involves actions taken by an
organization in response to service failure
(Zeithaml & Bitner, 2009).
In Kenya, the hospitality industry, one of
the top three revenue earners among
Kenya’s economic sectors, is driven by
S
Description
ARTICLE
Keywords
Effectiveness, Compensation, Recovery strategies, Service recovery Paradox model, Customer experience, Rated hotels
Citation
Keya, J., Pepela, A., & Kivuva, A. (2023). Effectiveness of Compensation Recovery Strategies in Enhancing Customer Experience in Star-Rated Hotels in Mombasa County, Kenya. Multidisciplinary Journal of Technical University of Mombasa , 2(2), 1-9. https://doi.org/10.48039/mjtum.v2i2.62